First Day of School!

Well, it wasn't really Carter's first day of "school" but it was her first day back at her babysitters and our official start back to the real world. Summer was great and we enjoyed every minute.

 Excited to go to "school"

 Mommy made it without even crying!

2nd day of "school" and she is sporting her first ever pig tails!

Carter....the runner

 

So our little Carter has decided that she would rather run everywhere, instead of walk like a normal 11 month old. So, this has results in quite a few bumps and bruises lately including the most recent....a fat lip. Dan and the kids met me for lunch on Friday at McClalisters Deli. Two minutes after putting Carter down (before we even ordered!) she falls flat on her face into the tile floor and busts open her lip. Blood everywhere. Ugh. I got the bleeding to stop and got the Dr.'s office on the phone. They advised that it seemed like it would heal on its own..which is was nicely for the rest of the day until she did it again! Fast forward a few hours to Sweet Frog (frozen yogurt) when we again set her down so we can get our ice cream and she falls flat on her face AGAIN! Splits open the same lip and this time there is even more blood. Hello scene in Sweet Frog. Luckily, the best cure for a fat lip is ice cream. If she weren't in such a rush to get everywhere she is going perhaps she'd be a little more stable and less accident prone! Geez!

Today her lip looks even worse (which the nurse warned it would). I hope she is on the mend and that she can work on her balance a little bit! Slow down girl!

 

Ice cream did the trick! 

(you can see last weeks bruise on her forehead from falling into the end table)

 Look at it! :o( She barely let Dan have a bit of his own ice cream

This is today.

Good dinners

 

Dan made delicious dinners for the past few nights. My two favorites were eggplant parm, and yes my kids both ate it, and stuffed chicken, risotta, beans, and bread. It was our last night as a family at home (before I went back to work) and we celebrated with a great dinner and dessert. Summer was great but it has to end sometime! I sure will miss them while I work the rest of the week. Then, on Monday its back to work for Dan as well. Summer flies by faster each year!

 Sean was eating the eggplant like it was a chicken nugget

 Girl loves to eat!

 Cupcakes from Frosting

Of course he only licked off the icing!

Mommy and Sean day.

Based on Sean's behavior, it seems that he was in need of a little quality time and attention....Carter free...that is. So, we headed to the mall for a lunch date followed by some playtime at the mall and a train ride. It was a fun afternoon!

Picture time!

Luckily for us Tara (far right) is a picture taking machine. She shared her memory card with me so many of the pics I've posted she took. Thank you! She also took our big group pictures and each family. I think they turned out well!

Girls night!

I am going to stick with posting pics from early in the night. . .

Our beach house: Conched Out

The BFF's. Gracyn and Sean

The whole gang! The Babbs, Krohns, Rettigs, and Eades

Just us

Notice how her feet are still pulling up away from the sand!

The kids...whew tough with this many kids!

It was our last night on the beach and it was a wonderful special week!

More beach fun!

To sum it up in a few words: birthday book exchange, ice cream, beach, playground, fun in the house, freeze pops, and lots of fun!

 Opening up their books

 Squiggly's Ice cream is the best!

 Boogie boarding time!

 The surfer dudes

 I won't stand in the sand, but the chair...that is acceptable!

 helping daddy find shark's teeth (he found a huge one!)

 Playground fun while the boys were out to dinner (after ice cream obviously!)

 No caption needed.

 The kids liked it when we dug out a "pool" near the water and they played in that all day

 My loves

 She loves to sit in your lap at the beach!

Sitting on the porch enjoying some freeze pops

The Beach! (again!)

It seems the Rettig family are professional beach go-ers. So we loaded up our pilot once again and headed south for a week. This vacation was a little different than the last one where Sean and Carter were the only two kids. This time, it was 6 of our close friends and their 6 kids. Yep, you did the math correct, that makes for 8 children under 6 years old. It sounds like it would be loud, chaotic, and fun, right? Well, that is what it was! Unfortunately, the first morning we woke up to a thunderstorm so we headed to the aquarium at Ft. Fisher for the morning. Luckily, when we got back the sun was out and it turned out to be a perfect afternoon at the beach!

 The whole gang at the Aquarium.

 It looks so real!

 Sean is showing Carter around.

 She wants to touch!

 

She is very interested.

 Sean touched the starfish.

 Looking at the big shark tank!

 Sean touched one of these baby bamboo sharks

 Carter enjoyed the view safely from inside the baby pool

lets see if she likes the sand yet....oh right, NOPE! ha ha

Playdate at chick-fila!

Sean is a goofball! Playing with his best friend Gracyn.

Trying to keep up with the big kids!

Carter is 11 months!

Wow, where has the time gone? I cannot believe my sweet girl is 11 months. We are already planning her first birthday party. We love watching her grow and learn each day and boy does she keep us busy! Here is her latest update:

*Walks/runs all over the place

*has quite the vocabulary: ni ni for night night, lots of animal sounds, shaa for Sean, pop for poppy,

*Loves to climb in chairs and stand up

*still eats and eats and eat but is more distracted while eating and attempts to escape her seat often

*plays with toys now and plays with Sean more

*loves to swim in the water and has no fear of getting her face wet 

*Gives kisses on demand more often now

*Signs: Please, more, all done, with consistentcy

*loves to read books and often brings them to you and then asks to get in your lap

*loves to look at pictures of herself in our living room

*will do anything for a laugh from Sean

11 months!

Happy!

Getting these pictures is quite difficult now!